---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 123b"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "123b"
heading: "Forces stationed abroad: limitation on number"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/123b"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part I — Organization and General Military Powers"
  - "Chapter 3 — General Powers and Functions"
---

# §123b. Forces stationed abroad: limitation on number

- (a) **End-Strength Limitation.—** No funds appropriated to the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of Defense may be used to support a strength level of members of the [armed forces](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-4) assigned to permanent duty ashore in nations outside the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) at the end of any fiscal year at a level in excess of 203,000.
- (b) **Exception for Wartime.—** [Subsection (a)](#a) does not apply in the event of a declaration of war or an armed attack on any member nation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Japan, the Republic of Korea, or any other ally of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1).
- (c) **Presidential Waiver.—** The President may waive the operation of [subsection (a)](#a) if the President declares an emergency. The President shall immediately notify Congress of any such waiver.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 103–337, div. A, title XIII, § 1312(a)(1), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 2894.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in Pub. L. 102–484, div. A, title XIII, § 1302, Oct. 23, 1992, 106 Stat. 2545, which was set out as a note under section 113 of this title, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 103–337, § 1312(c).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 103–337, div. A, title XIII, § 1312(b), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 2894, provided that: “Section 123b of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), does not apply with respect to a fiscal year before fiscal year 1996.”